


Edge of Seventeen

by blueharlequin



Series: Bits and Pieces of Things [2]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, May Be Expanded Upon, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Series, Suicidal Thoughts, unfinished work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:13:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueharlequin/pseuds/blueharlequin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron Hotchner, a prosecutor, finds out that his wife and high school sweetheart is cheating on him. Lately he’s been contemplating suicide. As he sits in his car one day with his gun on his lap a young college student named Spencer Reid stops him from taking his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Edge of Seventeen

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for title goes to Stevie Nicks. Warning for frank discussion on suicide. See end notes for more warnings. This might be a little disjointed since it is largely unfinished.

Reid thought it was odd that the black Mercedes had been sitting on the college parking lot for over an hour. The man inside didn’t look like he was waiting for someone. Even though he was just at Georgetown visiting for a lecture Spencer crossed through the lot and decided to take a look. The dark haired man looked like some sort of business professional but Reid almost stopped and stared when he saw the hand gun peeking out from underneath the disarray of files on the passenger seat. Wondering if he should call the cops, the college student sat down on a bench where he could observe the car unobtrusively. After another twenty minutes the older man turned the car on and slowly pulled away.

Spencer slipped into his rental car and followed the man. He didn’t go far, pulling into a rundown motel not far from the campus. He parked across the street and watched as the man paid for his room and disappeared into the motel interior.

There was an insistent knocking on the door. Aaron slipped the gun under the pillow and looked through the slot in the door. The young man from the parking lot was standing there looking around nervously, as though he was meeting someone for an illicit encounter. Sensing that he wasn’t going to go away, Aaron opened the door and stood there glaring at him. The kid flinched as if he had been struck, but stood his ground. “What do you want?” the prosecutor growled.

Fixing his eyes on some point over his shoulder the boy started babbling, “I had to follow you. Something doesn’t seem right. I mean you’re here and this doesn’t look like someplace someone like you would go. I mean if you were here waiting for … someone,” the young man blushed terribly and Aaron put together that the boy may have thought he was meeting a prostitute. Before he could ream the kid a new one the kid held up his hand and looked at him with an I’m-not-finished look. “I mean technically nothing illegal has happened yet … and if that’s not the reason you’re here then … with all of the other factors I observed … um, did you know that there are 67.6 suicides by white males a day in the US? And that 55% of suicides are completed with a firearm? And that lawyers are 1.33 time more likely to Oomphf!”

Aaron grabbed the college student by the arm and pulled him into the room as he spied someone making their way down the hall towards them. Closing the door and locking it behind him he observed the young man. 

“I was thinking about it,” he said abruptly. The man sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. Even though Spencer had just met him, he didn't seem like the kind of man who would show so much emotion. Reid had the feeling that he was the type who held everything in check behind a carefully schooled facade. Feeling impulsive and wondering if he had lost his mind Spencer crossed over to the older man and crouched down in front of him.

The young man leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth. Hotch looked at him slightly shocked before he leaned forward and kissed him back. Spencer pressed forward trying to get closer before abandoning his seat and crawling onto the older man’s lap. He didn’t know what had gotten into him but he suddenly wanted to be close to this man. Aaron’s arms went around his waist and pulled him flush against his chest. The older man ran his hands under his sweater and pulled it off over his head. Spencer made a small noise of disapproval as the action caused the kiss to break momentarily. He fastened his lips back on the other man’s as soon as the offending garment was out of the way. The lawyer’s hands kneaded his buttocks as the ground against each other. Reid took the moment to hastily unbutton the older man’s shirt and soon he felt a pair of hands join his in front as Aaron he quickly did the same. 

* * *

Hotch looked back at the young man on the bed as he flipped through his wallet. Looking at the date on his ID the older man was at parts relieved and disturbed. If they had been just a few miles over in the state of Virginia, Aaron would have just committed a crime. At least the kid was almost a year over the age of consent for the state he was from; apparently old enough to already be having sex in a seedy motel with a man he didn’t even know. The lawyer shivered slightly, this is the reason why he needed to quit being who he was now. He looked down at the young man, naked except for the sheet covering him. He still managed to have an air of innocence as he slept after such a sexual encounter. If Aaron had been some sort of predator the youth might not have fared so well. The case file he had on his desk at work flashed through his mind and he imagined Spencer in another position on the bed, his body bloody, beaten and used.

It was the most cowardly thing he had ever done but Hotch supposed it wasn’t without precedence in relation to random hookups. He wrote the young man, Spencer, a note and left it on the bed side table along with his business card. He set the alarm clock for half an hour from now, grabbed his briefcase and quietly slipped out of the room.  


* * *

About five years later Hotch looked up from his desk at the new member of his team as Gideon introduced him and was barely able to hide his surprise. Spencer was a little less successful but it went unnoticed by the senior profiler. Later, when they had a moment alone the young agent turned to him. “I thought about calling you several times. Just to see if you were okay.” Spencer was holding his old business card. The paper was worn and the edges blunt. Hotch could see it had been kept in his wallet for some time.

He looked at it as Spencer set it on his desk. “I said if you ever needed anything, you could call me, and that I was okay.”

“Yes, that is what the note said. How okay are you?” the younger man asked.

“I feel like I’m making a difference.” Hotch admitted. The young agent nodded and smiled shyly. The SAC hadn’t been prepared to face the warm feeling that expression brought, but then again he never thought he would see Spencer ever again. As the kid moved to leave Hotch grabbed one of his FBI business cards from the holder on his desk. “Wait.” He wrote his home phone on the back. “I’m sure the tech has programmed our work numbers in your cell by now, but take this just in case.” He placed the new card on top of his old one and pushed it towards the young man.

Spencer slid them off the desk and held them in front of him for a moment before reaching for the office door. He paused as he placed his hand on the doorknob, “It still stands? What you said in the note?”

“Yes.”

Spencer regarded his boss for a moment before he made his way out the door and into his new career at the BAU.

**Author's Note:**

> Spencer is 16 years old in this, with his 17th birthday barely a month away. At this point, he is an emancipated minor already working on one of his degrees in the area. Please note, age of consent in Nevada, Maryland and the District of Columbia is 16 years old, age of consent in Virginia is 18.


End file.
